Apparatus, method, and computer program product for generating promotion request data

ABSTRACT

Systems, apparatus, and methods for effectively allowing consumers to request promotions from a merchant are discussed herein. Some embodiments may provide for a networked device, apparatus, or server configured to: in response to determining that a merchant device is not associated with at least one available promotion, determine, via a processor, a promotion request threshold value indicating a required number of promotion requests for generating a promotion associated with the merchant device; receive a plurality of promotion requests from a plurality of consumer devices via the network; calculate, via the processor, a promotion request count associated with the plurality of promotion requests; and in response to determining that the promotion request count satisfies the promotion request threshold value, generate a promotion offer request indicating a request to generate the promotion.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of and claims priority to U.S.Non-Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 14/222,380, filed Mar. 21,2014, each of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

FIELD

Embodiments of the invention relate, generally, to providing promotionsof merchants to consumers.

BACKGROUND

Merchants offer products, services, and/or experiences (referred toherein as “items”) to consumers. Promotional systems may providepromotions for such items to attract business, build consumer loyalty,and improve brand recognition (among other things). Areas for improvingcurrent systems have been identified. Through applied effort, ingenuity,and innovation, solutions to improve such systems have been realized andare described herein.

BRIEF SUMMARY

Systems, methods, and computer readable program code are provided to, ingeneral, improve merchant messaging to consumers. For example, consumersmay be allowed to request promotions of a merchant from a system. Basedon various criteria, the system may be configured to facilitate therequesting of merchant approval for the promotion and/or otherwiseproviding the promotion. Some embodiments may provide for an apparatusincluding circuitry configured to: receive promotion request data from aconsumer device indicating that a consumer is interested in purchasing apromotion associated with a merchant; determine a promotion requestthreshold value; in response to receiving the promotion request,increment a promotion request count, wherein the promotion request countindicates a number of consumers that have provided the promotion requestassociated with the merchant; determine whether the promotion requestcount exceeds the promotion request threshold value; and in response todetermining that the promotion request count exceeds the promotionrequest threshold value, generate a request to offer a promotion fortransmission to the merchant.

In some embodiments, the circuitry may be further configured to:generate the request to offer the promotion including one or morepromotion parameters; send the request to a merchant device; receiverequest approval data indicating merchant approval of the promotionincluding the one or more promotion parameters; and subsequent receivingthe request approval data, generate the promotion associated with themerchant.

In some embodiments, the circuitry may be further configured to: provideimpressions of available promotions to consumer devices; determinewhether the merchant is associated with an available promotion; and inresponse to determining that the merchant fails to be associated with anavailable promotion, provide a user interface capable of receiving thepromotion request to the consumer device.

In some embodiments, the circuitry may be further configured to:generate a purchase queue including each consumer that has provided apromotion request; determine a promotion availability value indicating anumber of instances of the promotion available to consumers; andsubsequent to generating the promotion: facilitate a financialtransaction for the promotion for at least a portion of consumers withinthe queue without exceeding the promotion availability value, whereineach financial transaction is depletes an instance of the promotionavailable to consumers; determine whether one or more instances of thepromotion remain after facilitating the financial transaction for the atleast a portion of consumers; and in response to determining that one ormore instances of the promotion remain, provide an impression of thepromotion to consumers other than the at least a portion of consumers.

In some embodiments, the circuitry may be further configured to, inresponse to determining that the prepurchase count exceeds theprepurchase threshold value, provide an alert to a display device of theapparatus or a second apparatus.

Some embodiments may provide for a machine implemented method. Themethod may include: receiving, by circuitry, promotion request data froma consumer device indicating that a consumer is interested in purchasinga promotion associated with a merchant; determining, by the circuitry, apromotion request threshold value; in response to receiving thepromotion request, increment a promotion request count, wherein thepromotion request count indicates a number of consumers that haveprovided the promotion request associated with the merchant;determining, by the circuitry, whether the promotion request countexceeds the promotion request threshold value; and in response todetermining that the promotion request count exceeds the promotionrequest threshold value, generating, by the circuitry, a request tooffer a promotion for transmission to the merchant.

In some embodiments, the method may further include: generating therequest to offer the promotion including one or more promotionparameters; sending the request to a merchant device; receiving requestapproval data indicating merchant approval of the promotion includingthe one or more promotion parameters; and subsequent receiving therequest approval data, generating the promotion associated with themerchant.

In some embodiments, the method may further include: providingimpressions of available promotions to consumer devices; determiningwhether the merchant is associated with an available promotion; and inresponse to determining that the merchant fails to be associated with anavailable promotion, providing a user interface capable of receiving thepromotion request to the consumer device.

In some embodiments, the method may further include: generating apurchase queue including each consumer that has provided a promotionrequest; determining a promotion availability value indicating a numberof instances of the promotion available to consumers; and subsequent togenerating the promotion: facilitating a financial transaction for thepromotion for at least a portion of consumers within the queue withoutexceeding the promotion availability value, wherein each financialtransaction is depletes an instance of the promotion available toconsumers; determining whether one or more instances of the promotionremain after facilitating the financial transaction for the at least aportion of consumers; and in response to determining that one or moreinstances of the promotion remain, providing an impression of thepromotion to consumers other than the at least a portion of consumers.

In some embodiments, the method may further include, in response todetermining that the prepurchase count exceeds the prepurchase thresholdvalue, providing, by the circuitry, an alert to a display device of theapparatus or a second apparatus.

Some embodiments may provide for techniques for determining promotionparameters of a prepurchase promotion. Other embodiments may include oneor more machines, such as an apparatus and/or system, configured toimplement the methods and/or other functionality discussed herein. Forexample, the machine may include one or more processors and/or othermachine components configured to implement the functionality discussedherein based on instructions and/or other data stored in memory and/orother non-transitory computer readable media.

These characteristics as well as additional features, functions, anddetails are described below. Similarly, corresponding and additionalembodiments are also described below.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Having thus described some embodiments in general terms, reference willnow be made to the accompanying drawings, which are not necessarilydrawn to scale, and wherein:

FIG. 1 shows an example of a system in accordance with some embodiments;

FIG. 2 shows a schematic block diagram of an example of circuitry inaccordance with some embodiments.

FIG. 3 shows an example of a method of providing a prepurchase promotionincluding a predefined accepted value in accordance with someembodiments;

FIG. 4 shows an example of a method of providing a prepurchase promotionbased on a consumer-defined accepted value in accordance with someembodiments;

FIG. 5 shows an example of a method of providing a promotion based on aprepurchase queue in accordance with some embodiments;

FIG. 6 shows an example of a method of providing a requested promotionin accordance with some embodiments;

FIG. 7 shows an example of a method of determining promotion parametersof a prepurchase promotion; and

FIG. 8 shows an example bid acceptance table 800 in accordance with someembodiments.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Embodiments now will be described more fully hereinafter with referenceto the accompanying drawings, in which some, but not all embodiments areshown. Indeed, embodiments of the invention may be implemented in manydifferent forms and should not be construed as limited to theembodiments set forth herein; rather, these embodiments are provided sothat this disclosure will satisfy applicable legal requirements. Likenumbers refer to like elements throughout.

As used herein, the terms “data,” “content,” “information” and similarterms may be used interchangeably to refer to data capable of beingcaptured, transmitted, received, displayed and/or stored in accordancewith various example embodiments. Thus, use of any such terms should notbe taken to limit the spirit and scope of the disclosure. Further, wherea computing device is described herein to receive data from anothercomputing device, it will be appreciated that the data may be receiveddirectly from the another computing device or may be received indirectlyvia one or more intermediary computing devices, such as, for example,one or more servers, relays, routers, network access points, basestations, and/or the like. Similarly, where a computing device isdescribed herein to send data to another computing device, it will beappreciated that the data may be sent directly to the another computingdevice or may be sent indirectly via one or more intermediary computingdevices, such as, for example, one or more servers, relays, routers,network access points, base stations, and/or the like.

Where techniques are described herein with method flowcharts, it isappreciated that the steps of a method may not necessarily be performedin the order shown. Furthermore, in various embodiments, some or all ofthe steps of a method flowchart may not necessarily be performed.

Overview

Some embodiments may provide for a system capable of providingpromotions of merchants to consumers. A “promotion,” as used herein, mayinclude, but is not limited to, any type of offered, presented orotherwise indicated reward, discount, coupon, credit, deal, incentive,discount, media or the like that is indicative of a promotional value orthe like that upon purchase or acceptance results in the issuance of aninstrument that may be used toward at least a portion of the purchase ofparticular goods, services and/or experiences (or “item(s)” as usedherein) defined by the promotion. For example, a promotion may specifythat for a $25 accepted value paid by the consumer, the consumer mayreceive $50 toward a purchase of running shoes at a particular merchant.

A promotion may be defined by and/or be associated with one or more“promotion parameters.” Example promotion parameters may include anaccepted value (e.g., a cost to purchase the promotion), a promotionalvalue (e.g., the value of the resultant instrument beyond the acceptedvalue), and/or the associated item or items of the promotion. In someembodiments, a promotion may further be associated with a promotionavailability value indicating a number of instances of the promotionthat is available to consumers (e.g., in total, within a predeterminedperiod of time such as daily, weekly, monthly, yearly, etc.).

A “merchant” or “provider” may include, but is not limited to, amerchant, provider of a promotion, business owner, consigner,shopkeeper, tradesperson, vender, operator, entrepreneur, agent, dealer,organization or the like that is in the business of a providing a good,service or experience to a consumer, facilitating the provision of agood, service or experience to a consumer and/or otherwise operating inthe stream of commerce.

In some embodiments, the system may be configured to provide one or more“impressions” of a promotion to consumers. An “impression,” as usedherein, may include a communication, a display, or other perceivedindication, such as a flyer, print media, e-mail, text message,application alert, mobile applications, other type of electronicinterface or distribution channel and/or the like, of one or morepromotions. For example, and using the aforementioned running shoepromotion, an impression may include an e-mail communication sent toconsumer devices of consumers that indicates the availability of the $25for $50 toward running shoes promotion.

An advantage that may be realized by some embodiments discussed hereinis that merchants can attract business, build consumer loyalty, andimprove brand recognition (among other things) through a “prepurchasepromotion.” A prepurchase promotion, as used herein, refers topreliminary promotional mechanism that may be requested and/or acceptedfor subsequent purchase by a consumer, and that is not a valid (e.g.,redeemable) promotion until subsequent to merchant approval of one ormore promotion parameters associated with the prepurchase promotion.

For example, the system may be configured to generate a prepurchasepromotion of a merchant that includes a promotional value and anaccepted value. The system may be further configured to generate aprepurchase impression of the prepurchase promotion and provide theprepurchase impression to consumers. A “prepurchase impression,” as usedherein, may include a communication, a display, or other perceivedindication, such as a flyer, print media, e-mail, text message,application alert, mobile applications, other type of electronicinterface or distribution channel and/or the like, of one or moreprepurchase promotions. For example, prepurchase impression may includea communication sent to consumer devices of consumers that indicates a$25 for $50 toward running shoes prepurchase promotion of a merchant,which can prepurchased and/or accepted by the consumer prior toacceptance of the promotion parameters by the merchant, such as byproviding payment data and/or some other indication of consumer intent.

Some embodiments may allow consumers to provide payment data and/orotherwise accept a prepurchase promotion or its promotion parameters(e.g., prior to creation and/or merchant approval of a promotion). Theconsumers may be placed in a consumer queue and may be automaticallyprovided with a promotion based on the prepurchase promotion in theevent that such a promotion is created and/or approved by the merchant.For example, upon a sufficient number of consumers expressing interestvia prepurchase, the system may be configured to request and/orotherwise determine merchant approval of the prepurchase promotion orthe promotion parameters. Subsequent to merchant approval, the systemmay then generate a promotion based on the prepurchase promotion, suchas a promotion including the promotion parameters of the prepurchaseparameters. Consumers within the consumer queue may be programmaticallyprovided the promotion and impressions of the promotion may be providedto other consumers if remaining instances of the promotion remain.

Some embodiments may allow consumers to bid on the purchase price (or“accepted value”) of a prepurchase promotion. For example, consumers mayprovide payment data and/or otherwise accept a prepurchase promotionincluding one or more promotion parameters at the consumer-definedaccepted value. The consumers may be placed in a consumer queue and maybe automatically provided with a promotion based on the prepurchasepromotion in the event that such a promotion having a minimum acceptedvalue that exceeds the consumer-defined accepted value created (e.g.,subsequent to merchant acceptance). Some embodiments may further providefor techniques for determining one or more promotion parameters of aprepurchase promotion, including the promotional value, the acceptedvalue, and/or the item(s) of the prepurchase promotion.

Some embodiments may further allow a consumer to request a promotionfrom a merchant that is not offering any promotions. For example,consumer requests may be tracked and upon meeting a predefinedthreshold, the system may be configured to generate and/or send arequest to a merchant to provide one or more promotions on the behalf ofthe merchant.

Exemplary System Architecture

FIG. 1 shows an example system 100 in accordance with some embodiments.System 100 may include promotion and marketing system 102 (or “system102”), network 104, consumer device 106, merchant device 108, personalarea network (PAN) 110, and third party system 110. System 102 may becommunicably connected with consumer device 106 and merchant device 108via network 104. System 102 may include server 112 and database 114.

Server 112 may include circuitry, networked processors, or the likeconfigured to perform some or all of the server-based processesdescribed herein and may be any suitable network server and/or othertype of processing device. In some embodiments, system 102 may functionas a “cloud” with respect to the consumer device 106 and/or merchantdevice 108. In that sense, server 112 may include several serversperforming interconnected and/or distributed functions. To avoidunnecessarily overcomplicating the disclosure, server 112 is shown anddescribed herein as a single server.

Database 114 may be any suitable network storage device configured tostore some or all of the information described herein. For example,database 114 may be configured to store consumer information, merchantinformation, promotion information, and/or among other things. As such,database 114 may include, for example, one or more database systems,backend data servers, network databases, cloud storage devices, etc. Toavoid unnecessarily overcomplicating the disclosure, database 114 isshown and described herein as a single database.

Network 104 may include one or more wired and/or wireless communicationnetworks including, for example, a wired or wireless local area network(LAN), personal area network (PAN), metropolitan area network (MAN),wide area network (WAN), or the like, as well as any hardware, softwareand/or firmware for implementing the one or more networks (such as,e.g., network routers, switches, hubs, etc.). For example, network 104may include a cellular telephone, mobile broadband, long term evolution(LTE), GSM/EDGE, UMTS/HSPA, IEEE 802.11, IEEE 802.16, IEEE 802.20, WiFi,dial-up, and/or WiMax network. Furthermore, network 104 may include apublic network, such as the Internet, a private network, such as anintranet, or combinations thereof, and may utilize a variety ofnetworking protocols now available or later developed including, but notlimited to TCP/IP based networking protocols.

Consumer device 106 may be associated with a consumer and/or consumeraccount, such as a consumer with a consumer account provided by system102. Although a single consumer device 106 is shown, system 100 mayinclude any number of consumer devices that may be associated withvarious other consumers and/or consumer accounts. Consumer device 106may be a mobile device and/or a stationary device. For example, consumerdevice 106 may be a mobile device such as a cellular telephone(including smartphones and/or other types of mobile telephones), laptop,tablet, electronic reader, e-book device, media device, and/or the like.Additionally and/or alternatively, consumer device 106 may be astationary device such as a desktop computer, work station,point-of-sale device, or the like.

Merchant device 108 may be associated with a merchant, and may belocated at a merchant shop and/or other location. Although a singlemerchant device 108 is shown, system 100 may include any number ofmerchant devices that may be associated with various other merchants. Insome embodiments, merchant device 108 may be configured to providepoint-of-sale (POS) functionality for the merchant, such as at themerchant's shop. Furthermore, merchant device 108 may be a stationaryand/or mobile device.

In some embodiments, system 102 may be configured to receive promotiondata from merchant device 108 indicating a promotion for goods,experiences and/or services (or “items” as used herein) and/or one ormore promotion parameters of the promotion (e.g., target audience,timing, accepted value, promotional value, residual value, etc.). System102 may then generate and/or provide one or more impressions for thepromotion to consumer device 102, which may be redeemed with themerchant via merchant device 108, such as in connection with a financialtransaction of a transaction session.

In some embodiments, system 100 may further include one or more thirdparty systems 110, among other things. For example, third party system110 may include a payment server configured to provide for the exchangeof money, credits, etc. between the merchant and consumer. In someembodiments, various third party systems 110 may be associated withdifferent types of payment sources. Thus for each payment source, datamay be sent to an appropriate third party system (e.g., a credit cardtransaction server, etc.) to validate and/or process payments.

FIG. 2 shows a schematic block diagram of example circuitry 200, some orall of which may be included in system 102, server 112, database 114,consumer device 106, and/or merchant device 108. In accordance with someexample embodiments, circuitry 200 may include various means, such asone or more processors 202, memories 204, communications modules 206,and/or input/output modules 208.

In some embodiments, such as when circuitry 200 is included in server112, prepurchase promotion module 210 may also or instead be included.As referred to herein, “module” includes hardware, software and/orfirmware configured to perform one or more particular functions. In thisregard, the means of circuitry 200 as described herein may be embodiedas, for example, circuitry, hardware elements (e.g., a suitablyprogrammed processor, combinational logic circuit, integrated circuit,and/or the like), a computer program product comprisingcomputer-readable program instructions stored on a non-transitorycomputer-readable medium (e.g., memory 204) that is executable by asuitably configured processing device (e.g., processor 202), or somecombination thereof.

Processor 202 may, for example, be embodied as various means includingone or more microprocessors with accompanying digital signalprocessor(s), one or more processor(s) without an accompanying digitalsignal processor, one or more coprocessors, one or more multi-coreprocessors, one or more controllers, processing circuitry, one or morecomputers, various other processing elements including integratedcircuits such as, for example, an ASIC (application specific integratedcircuit) or FPGA (field programmable gate array), or some combinationthereof. Accordingly, although illustrated in FIG. 2 as a singleprocessor, in some embodiments, processor 202 may comprise a pluralityof processing means. The plurality of processing means may be embodiedon a single computing device or may be distributed across a plurality ofcomputing devices collectively configured to function as circuitry 200.The plurality of processing means may be in operative communication witheach other and may be collectively configured to perform one or morefunctionalities of circuitry 200 as described herein. In an exampleembodiment, processor 202 may be configured to execute instructionsstored in memory 204 or otherwise accessible to processor 202. Theseinstructions, when executed by processor 202, may cause circuitry 200 toperform one or more of the functionalities described herein.

Whether configured by hardware, firmware/software methods, or by acombination thereof, processor 202 may comprise an entity capable ofperforming operations according to embodiments discussed herein whileconfigured accordingly. Thus, for example, when processor 202 isembodied as an ASIC, FPGA or the like, processor 202 may comprisespecifically configured hardware for conducting one or more operationsdescribed herein. As another example, when processor 202 may be embodiedas an executor of instructions, such as may be stored in memory 204, theinstructions may specifically configure processor 202 to perform one ormore algorithms, methods or operations described herein. For example,processor 202 may be configured to execute operating systemapplications, firmware applications, media playback applications, mediaediting applications, among other things.

Memory 204 may comprise, for example, volatile memory, non-volatilememory, or some combination thereof. Although illustrated in FIG. 2 as asingle memory, memory 204 may comprise a plurality of memory components.The plurality of memory components may be embodied on a single computingcomponent or distributed across a plurality of computing components. Invarious embodiments, memory 204 may comprise, for example, a hard disk,random access memory, cache memory, flash memory, a compact disc readonly memory (CD-ROM), solid state memory, digital versatile disc readonly memory (DVD-ROM), an optical disc, circuitry configured to storeinformation, integrated circuitry, chemical/biological memory, paper, orsome combination thereof. Memory 204 may be configured to storeinformation, data, applications, instructions, or the like for enablingcircuitry 200 to carry out various functions in accordance with exampleembodiments discussed herein. For example, in at least some embodiments,memory 204 may be configured to buffer input data for processing byprocessor 202. Additionally or alternatively, in at least someembodiments, memory 204 may be configured to store program instructionsfor execution by processor 202 and/or data for processing by processor202. Memory 204 may store information in the form of static and/ordynamic information. This stored information may be stored and/or usedby circuitry 200 during the course of performing its functionalities.

Communications module 206 may be embodied as any component or meansembodied in circuitry, hardware, a computer program product comprisingcomputer readable program instructions stored on a computer readablemedium (e.g., memory 204) and executed by a processing device (e.g.,processor 202), or a combination thereof that is configured to receiveand/or transmit data from/to another device, such as, for example, asecond circuitry 200 and/or the like. In some embodiments,communications module 206 (like other components discussed herein) canbe at least partially embodied as or otherwise controlled by processor202. In this regard, communications module 206 may be in communicationwith processor 202, such as via a bus. Communications module 206 mayinclude, for example, an antenna, a transmitter, a receiver, atransceiver, network interface card and/or supporting hardware and/orfirmware/software for enabling communications. Communications module 206may be configured to receive and/or transmit any data that may be storedby memory 204 using any protocol that may be used for communications.Communications module 206 may additionally and/or alternatively be incommunication with the memory 204, input/output module 208 and/or anyother component of circuitry 200, such as via a bus. Communicationsmodule 206 may be configured to use one or more communications protocolssuch as, for example, short messaging service (SMS), Wi-Fi (e.g., a802.11 protocol, Bluetooth, etc.), radio frequency systems (e.g., 900MHz, 1.4 GHz, and 5.6 GHz communication systems), infrared, GSM, GSMplus EDGE, CDMA, quadband, and other cellular protocols, VOIP, or anyother suitable protocol

Input/output module 208 may be in communication with processor 202 toreceive an indication of an input and/or to provide an audible, visual,mechanical, or other output. In that sense, input/output module 208 mayinclude means for performing analog-to-digital and/or digital-to-analogdata conversions. Input/output module 208 may include support, forexample, for a display, touch screen, keyboard, button, click wheel,mouse, joystick, an image capturing device, microphone, speaker,biometric scanner, and/or other input/output mechanisms. In embodimentswhere circuitry 200 may be implemented as a server or database, aspectsof input/output module 208 may be reduced as compared to embodimentswhere circuitry 200 may be implemented as an end-user machine or othertype of device designed for complex user interactions. In someembodiments (like other components discussed herein), input/outputmodule 208 may even be eliminated from circuitry 200. Alternatively,such as in embodiments wherein circuitry 200 is embodied as a server ordatabase, at least some aspects of input/output module 208 may beembodied on an apparatus used by a user that is in communication withcircuitry 200. Input/output module 208 may be in communication withmemory 204, communications module 206, and/or any other component(s),such as via a bus. Although more than one input/output module and/orother component can be included in circuitry 200, only one is shown inFIG. 2 to avoid overcomplicating the disclosure (e.g., like the othercomponents discussed herein).

In some embodiments, prepurchase promotion module 210 may also orinstead be included and configured to perform the functionalitydiscussed herein related providing prepurchase promotions. In someembodiments, some or all of the functionality of prepurchase promotionmodule 210 may be performed by processor 202. In this regard, some orall of the example processes and algorithms discussed herein can beperformed by at least one processor 202 and/or prepurchase promotionmodule 210. For example, non-transitory computer readable storage mediacan be configured to store firmware, one or more application programs,and/or other software, which include instructions and othercomputer-readable program code portions that can be executed to controlprocessors of the components of system 200 to implement variousoperations, including the examples shown herein. As such, a series ofcomputer-readable program code portions may be embodied in one or morecomputer program products and can be used, with a device, server,database, and/or other programmable apparatus, to produce themachine-implemented processes discussed herein.

Any such computer program instructions and/or other type of code may beloaded onto a computer, processor or other programmable apparatus'scircuitry to produce a machine, such that the computer, processor otherprogrammable circuitry that executes the code may be the means forimplementing various functions, including those described herein. Insome embodiments, one or more external systems (such as a remote cloudcomputing and/or data storage system) may also be leveraged to provideat least some of the functionality discussed herein.

As described above and as will be appreciated based on this disclosure,various embodiments may be implemented as methods, mediums, devices,servers, databases, systems, and the like. Accordingly, embodiments maycomprise various means including entirely of hardware or any combinationof software and hardware. Furthermore, embodiments may take the form ofa computer program product on at least one non-transitorycomputer-readable storage medium having computer-readable programinstructions (e.g., computer software) embodied in the storage medium.Any suitable computer-readable storage medium may be utilized includingnon-transitory hard disks, CD/DVD-ROMs, flash memory, optical storagedevices, quantum storage devices, chemical storage devices, biologicalstorage devices, magnetic storage devices, etc.

Embodiments have been described above with reference to block diagramsof components, such as functional modules, system components andcircuitry. Below is a discussion of an example process flowchartsdescribing functionality that may be implemented by one or morecomponents discussed above. Each block of the block diagrams and processflowcharts, and combinations of blocks diagrams and process flowcharts,respectively, can be implemented by various means including computerprogram instructions. These computer program instructions may be loadedonto a general purpose computer, special purpose computer, or otherprogrammable data processing apparatus, such as processor 202, toproduce a machine, such that the computer program product includes theinstructions which execute on the computer or other programmable dataprocessing apparatus to create a means for implementing the functionsspecified in the flowchart block or block diagrams.

These computer program instructions may also be stored in acomputer-readable storage device (e.g., memory 204) that can direct acomputer or other programmable data processing apparatus to function ina particular manner, such that the instructions stored in thecomputer-readable storage device produce an article of manufactureincluding computer-readable instructions for implementing the functiondiscussed herein. The computer program instructions may also be loadedonto a computer or other programmable data processing apparatus to causea series of operational steps to be performed on the computer or otherprogrammable apparatus to produce a computer-implemented process suchthat the instructions that execute on the computer or other programmableapparatus provide steps for implementing the functions discussed herein.

Accordingly, blocks of the block diagrams and flowchart illustrationssupport combinations of means for performing the specified functions,combinations of steps for performing the specified functions and programinstruction means for performing the specified functions. It will alsobe understood that each block of the block diagrams and processflowcharts, and combinations of blocks in the block diagrams and processflowcharts, can be implemented by special purpose hardware-basedcomputer systems that perform the specified functions or steps, orcombinations of special purpose hardware and computer instructions.

Prepurchase Promotions

FIG. 3 shows an example method 300 of providing a prepurchase promotionin accordance with some embodiments. Method 300 may be performed toallow consumers to accept and/or otherwise agree to purchase aprepurchase promotion including one or more predefined promotionparameters (e.g., including an accepted value). Subsequent to merchantapproval of the one or more promotion parameters, a (e.g.,non-prepurchase) promotion may be generated including the one or morepromotion parameters. Consumers that have accepted the prepurchasepromotion may be automatically charged the accepted value and be allowedto redeem the promotion, such as without requiring an additionalindication of consumer approval of the promotion and/or submission ofpayment data.

Method 300, as well as the other methods herein, is discussed as beingperformed by a consumer device (e.g., consumer device 106), a merchantdevice (e.g., merchant device 108), and a server (e.g., server 112 ofsystem 102 including database 114). However, in some embodiments, othersuitable structures that can be suitably configured to perform method300 can be used including circuitry, devices, apparatuses, networks,and/or among other things.

Method 300 may begin at 302 and proceed to 304, where a server (e.g.,server 112 and/or other networked device) may be configured to provide aprepurchase impression of a prepurchase promotion to a consumer device.For example, server 112 may be configured to provide the prepurchaseimpression including one or more prepurchase promotions associated witha merchant to consumer device 106 via network 104.

The prepurchase impression may be provided via any suitablecommunication channel, such as email, text message, consumer deviceapplication, webpage, among other things. In some embodiments, theprepurchase impression may be provided at in response to a consumeraction, such as accessing a webpage associated with the merchant via theconsumer device, sending a request from the consumer device for apromotion and/or prepurchase promotion, and/or programmatically (e.g.,at scheduled times, based on relevance matching, etc.).

As discussed above, server 112 may be configured to provide promotionsof merchants to consumer devices, such as via impressions. In someembodiments, the server may be configured to provide prepurchasepromotions for merchants that are not otherwise associated with anavailable promotion provided by the system. For example, in response toa request for merchant information, without consumer action, and/orotherwise subsequent to determining to provide merchant information to aconsumer device, the server may be configured to determine whether amerchant is associated with an available promotion. In response todetermining that the merchant is associated with an available promotion,the server may be configured to send an impression including one or morepromotions of the merchant to the consumer device. In response todetermining that the merchant fails to be associated with an availablepromotions, the server may be configured to generate a prepurchasepromotion associated with the merchant, generate a prepurchaseimpression of the prepurchase promotion, and/or send the prepurchaseimpression to the consumer device.

In some embodiments, a prepurchase promotion may be associated withand/or be defined by one or more promotion parameters. For example, aprepurchase promotion may be associated with promotion parametersincluding an accepted value, a promotional value, and one or more items(e.g., a product, service, and/or experience offered by the merchant).The accepted value may define the cost of purchasing the prepurchasepromotion (or the promotion that is subsequently provided based on theprepurchase promotion). The promotional value, which may also bereferred to as a redemption value, may define the value of one or moreitems receivable upon redemption of a promotion based on the prepurchasepromotion.

In some embodiments, the prepurchase impression may include anindication of the one or more promotion parameters of the prepurchasepromotion. Furthermore, in some embodiment, the server may be configuredto provide a plurality of prepurchase promotions including predefinedpromotion parameters that are different. For example, a firstprepurchase promotion may include promotion parameters having anaccepted value that is 25% less than the promotional value (e.g., 25%off), and a second prepurchase promotion may include promotionparameters having an accepted value that is 50% less than thepromotional value. In another example, such as for high qualitymerchants (e.g., based on factors such as ratings, price ranges, itemsoffered, etc.), a first prepurchase promotion may include promotionparameters having an accepted value that is 10% less than thepromotional value and a second prepurchase promotion may includepromotion parameters having an accepted value that is 25% less than thepromotional value. The items associated with a prepurchase promotion mayalso be predefined specifically (e.g., 25% for a particular runningshoe), or may be defined more generally (e.g., any running shoe or anyitem offered by the merchant, etc.). Additional details regardingdetermining promotion parameters of a prepurchase promotion arediscussed below in connection with method 700 and FIG. 7.

At 306, the server may be configured to determine a prepurchasethreshold value. A prepurchase threshold value, as used herein, definesa number of consumer acceptances, indications of interest, and/orsubmissions of payment data for a prepurchase promotion that is neededbefore additional steps are taken to create a (e.g., redeemable)promotion based on the prepurchase promotion. For example, a prepurchasethreshold value of 1,000 indicates that at least 1,000 consumers mustexpress an intent to purchase a promotion based on the prepurchasepromotion before the promotion including the one or more promotionparameters of the prepurchase promotion is created or otherwise madeavailable to consumers.

In some embodiments, a prepurchase threshold value may not be used. Forexample, a promotion may be generated in response to receiving anindication of consumer interest regardless of a prepurchase thresholdcount, as discussed in greater detail below. Alternatively oradditionally, other criteria for triggering the creation of a promotionbased on a prepurchase promotion may be used other than prepurchasethreshold count such as an expected revenue threshold value, as alsodiscussed in greater detail below.

At 308, the server may be configured to initiate a prepurchase count.The prepurchase count may indicate the number of consumers that haveaccepted, expressed interest, and/or provided payment data for theprepurchase promotion. In that sense, the prepurchase count may beinitiated at 0 and incremented or decremented based on data receivedfrom consumer devices indicating the appropriate consumer intent.

At 310, the server may be configured to determine whether prepurchaseapproval data is received from a consumer device indicating consumeracceptance of the one or more parameters of the prepurchase promotionand/or consumer acceptance of the prepurchase promotion. For example,the prepurchase approval data may be generated by a consumer device viaa user interface provided as part of the prepurchase impression. Theprepurchase impression may further indicate the terms of the consumeracceptance, such as a message indicating that submission of theprepurchase approval data means that the consumer has agreed to the oneor more promotion parameters but does not necessarily mean that theconsumer has already purchased a redeemable promotion.

In some embodiments, the server configured to provide the prepurchaseimpression includes the server being configured to provide an indicationof one or more of the prepurchase threshold value and the prepurchasecount to the consumer device. Here, the consumer may be provided with anindicator of how likely the prepurchase promotion will mature into aredeemable promotion and may be further motivated to share theprepurchase promotion with contacts such that the prepurchase count willexceed the prepurchase threshold value. In some embodiments, the servermay be further configured to provide status updates to merchants, suchas on a weekly, monthly, bi-monthly, etc. basis. For example, the statusupdate may be provided to a merchant device and may include anindication one or more of the prepurchase threshold value and theprepurchase count.

In response to determining that the prepurchase approval data has notbeen received from the consumer device, method 300 may return to 308,where the server may be configured to continue to determine monitorreceipts of prepurchase approval data and determine the prepurchasecount accordingly.

In response to determining that the prepurchase approval data has beenreceived from the consumer device, method 300 may proceed to 312, wherethe server may be configured to increment the prepurchase count. Forexample, each consumer may be associated with a consumer account anddata may be generated and/or stored indicating that a consumer accounthas provided the prepurchase approval data. In some embodiments, asingle consumer account may be allowed to provide a plurality ofinstances of prepurchase approval data each of which may increment theprepurchase count. In another example, a single consumer account may beallowed to increment the prepurchase count only a single time regardlessof the number of instances of consumer approval data received from aconsumer device associated with the consumer account.

At 314, the server may be configured to determine payment data. Thepayment data may include credit card data (e.g., card number, expirationdate, card verification value, etc), debit card data, financial accountdata, electronic payment account data, and/or any other data capable ofbeing used by the server to facilitate a financial transaction.

In some embodiments, the prepurchase approval data received at 310 mayinclude the payment data. The server may be further configured to storethe payment data without facilitating the financial transaction untilsubsequent to generating the promotion. Additionally or alternatively,payment data may be stored by the system (e.g., by system 102 withindatabase 114) in association with the consumer account. Here, theconsumer may not be required to submit additional instances of paymentdata. For example, the consumer may elect via the consumer device to usestored payment data for subsequent transactions with system 102.Alternatively or additionally, the consumer may add additional paymentsources (e.g., having different payment data) and/or may select aparticular payment source from a plurality of stored payment sources.

At 316, the server may be configured to determine whether theprepurchase count exceeds (and/or meets) the prepurchase thresholdvalue. As discussed above, the server may monitor the prepurchase countand compare the prepurchase count with the prepurchase threshold value.

In some embodiments, the server may be configured to determine whetherthe prepurchase count exceeds to the prepurchase threshold value at aprepurchase threshold time. A “prepurchase threshold time,” when used,refers to a predetermined time at which the prepurchase threshold valuemust be exceeded (and/or matched) in order for the promotion based onthe prepurchased promotion to be created. The prepurchased thresholdtime may ensure that consumers that provide prepurchase approval datawill knowing whether the promotion will be created within thepredetermined time rather than be left with uncertainty for anindefinite period of time. The server may be configured to determine aprepurchas threshold time, which may be defined as a predetermined time(e.g., 7-14 business days) after the prepurchase impression is providedto consumers and/or after one or more consumers provide the prepurchaseapproval data. The server may be further configured to compare theprepurchase threshold value with the prepurchase count at theprepurchase threshold time and/or determine whether the promotion basedon the prepurchase promotion has been generated at the prepurchasethreshold time.

In response to determining that the prepurchase count fails to exceedthe prepurchase threshold value, method 300 may proceed to 318, wherethe server may be configured to determine whether prepurchasecancellation data has been received from the consumer device. Theprepurchase cancellation data may indicate cancellation of theacceptance of the one or more parameters of the prepurchase promotion.For example, consumers may be allowed to cancel the agreement to acceptthe prepurchase promotion by providing the prepurchase cancellationdata. In response to determining that the prepurchase cancellation datahas been received, the server may be further configured to foregofacilitating a financial transaction for the promotion based on thepayment data. In some embodiments, the prepurchase cancellation data maybe effective prior to the creation of the promotion, prior to lapse ofthe prepurchase threshold time, and/or prior to determining that theprepurchase count exceeds the prepurchase threshold value. In someembodiments, as discussed in further detail below, the consumer may beadditionally or alternatively be allowed to provide prepurchasecancellation data subsequent to the creation of the promotion within aprepurchase cancellation time.

In response to determining that the prepurchase cancellation data hasbeen received, method 300 may proceed to 320, where the server may beconfigured to decrement the prepurchase count. For example, where theprepurchase count as not yet exceeded the prepurchase threshold value,consumers may be allowed to provide prepurchase acceptance data and/orprepurchase cancellation data, each of which may cause the prepurchasecount to be respectively incremented and/or decremented accordingly. Insome embodiments, the server may be configured to, in responsedetermining that the prepurchase cancellation data has been received andprior to determining that the prepurchase count exceeds the prepurchasethreshold value, decrement the prepurchase count. In response todetermining that the prepurchase cancellation data has failed to bereceived, method 300 may return to 316, where the server may beconfigured to continue to determine whether the prepurchase countexceeds the prepurchase threshold value.

In response to determining that the prepurchase count exceeds theprepurchase threshold value at 316, method 300 may proceed to 322, wherethe server may be configured to generate a request to offer a promotionincluding the one or more promotion parameters for transmission to amerchant. The promotion including the one or more promotion parametersof the prepurchase promotion may be the promotion “based on theprepurchase promotion,” as used herein.

In some embodiments, the server may be further configured to, inresponse to determining that the prepurchase count exceeds theprepurchase threshold value, provide an alert to a display device of theserver (and/or apparatus) or a second apparatus. For example, the alertmay be provided to an operator of server 114 or system 102 such that theoperator can contact the merchant for approval of the creation of thepromotion based on the prepurchase promotion and/or for approval of theone or more promotion parameters.

In some embodiments, the server may be further configured to determine amerchant revenue share value for presentation to the merchant. Themerchant revenue share value may indicate a total amount that can bepaid to the merchant in exchange for accepting the creation of thepromotion and/or the one or more promotion parameters. For example, themerchant revenue share value may be determined based on the prepurchasecount and the accepted value. For example, server 110 may be configuredto determine a (e.g., total) expected revenue value based on multiplyingthe accepted value with the prepurchase count. The merchant revenueshare value may then be determined based on the expected revenue value,such as by taking a predetermined percentage of the expected revenuevalue.

In some embodiments, the server may be further configured to generate amessage to the merchant including the merchant revenue share value suchas: “You have 1,000 customers waiting to buy your promotion, accept itnow and we will send you a check for $5,000 (e.g., the merchant revenueshare value) and we will release vouchers to consumers over the next Nmonths as you choose the monthly cap.” The server may be furtherconfigured to provide the message to a merchant device associated withthe merchant, such as via network 104.

At 324, the server may be configured to determine whether the merchantapproves the promotion. For example, the server may be configured toreceive promotion approval data from the merchant device indicatingmerchant approval of the promotion and/or the one or more promotionparameters. Alternatively or additionally, such as when the merchant iscontacted by an operator, the operator may provide the promotionapproval data, such as via a user input device associated with theserver and/or a different networked apparatus of the operator.

In response to determining that the merchant approves the promotion,method 300 may proceed to 326, where the server may be configured togenerate the promotion including the one or more promotion parameters.As discussed above, the one or more promotional parameters may includeone or more of an accepted value, a promotional value, and applicableitem(s).

At 328, the server may be configured to facilitate a financialtransaction for the promotion based on the payment data. For example,one or more consumers that provided payment data and/or prepurchaseapproval data may be programmatically charged for the promotion. Theserver may be further configured to provide an instrument for redemptionof the promotion to the consumer device subsequent to facilitating thefinancial transaction.

As discussed in further detail below in connection with method 500 andFIG. 5, in some embodiments, the merchants may be allowed to specify apromotion availability value indicating a number of instances of thepromotion available to consumers. In that sense, merchants may beallowed to budget or plan promotion availability (e.g., on a daily,weekly, monthly, yearly basis, etc.) as suitable or desired. Consumersmay be placed in a prepurchase queue and financial transactions may beperformed for at least a portion of consumers within the prepurchasequeue without exceeding the promotion availability value, where eachfinancial transaction depletes an instance of the promotion available toconsumers.

In some embodiments, consumers may be allowed to cancel a prepurchasepromotion after the promotion has been generated. For example,subsequent to generating the promotion including the one or morepromotion parameters, the server may be configured to determine aprepurchase cancellation time indicating a predetermined time withinwhich the consumer may cancel the purchase of the promotion by providingprepurchase cancellation data. In some embodiments, the server may beconfigured to provide an indication of the prepurchase cancellation timeto the consumer device. The server may be further configured todetermine whether prepurchase cancellation data indicating cancellationof the acceptance of the promotion and/or the one or more parameters hasbeen received from the consumer device prior to the prepurchasecancellation time (e.g., 48 hours after the indication of theprepurchase cancellation time is sent to the consumer device). Inresponse to determining that the prepurchase cancellation data hasfailed to be received by the prepurchase cancellation time, the servermay facilitate the financial transaction. Alternatively, in response todetermining that the prepurchase cancellation data has been received bythe prepurchase cancellation time, the server may forego facilitatingthe financial transaction based on the payment data.

Returning to 324, in response to determining the merchant has failed toapprove the promotion (and/or in response to determining that thepromotion has failed to be generated at the prepurchase threshold time),method 300 may proceed to 330, where the server may be configured toperform one or more remedial actions. For example, the server may beconfigured to forego facilitating the financial transaction based on thepayment data and/or provide an indication that the promotion was notgenerated to the consumer device.

In some embodiments, server 110 may be configured provide to theconsumer device an impression of one or more promotions associated withone or more merchants different from the merchant associated with theprepurchase promotion. In some embodiments, the one or more promotionsmay be determined based on the promotion parameters of the prepurchasepromotion accepted by the consumer, such as for similar items, acceptedvalues, promotional values, etc. Where the merchant has previouslyapproved of a promotion, the server may be additionally or alternativelyconfigured to provide the approved promotion to the consumer device. Insome embodiments, the server may be further configured to associate themerchant with the consumer account of the consumer such as for providingsubsequent communication to the consumer device of promotions,prepurchase promotions, merchant information, merchant updates, merchantevents, staffing changes (e.g., for service merchants), etc. associatedwith the merchant.

In some embodiments, the merchant may be allowed to modify one or morepromotion parameters. For example, the promotion approval data receivedat 324 may include an indication of merchant approval that is contingentupon a different accepted value, promotional value, and/or item(s).Here, server 110 may be configured to provide a notification to theconsumer device of the modified one or more promotion parameters. Insome embodiments, the consumer may be allowed to accept (e.g., via a1-click interaction) the one or more modified promotion parameters orcancel the acceptance. Method 300 may then proceed to 332 and end.

FIG. 4 shows an example method 400 of providing a prepurchase promotionbased on a consumer-defined accepted value in accordance with someembodiments. Method 400 may be performed to allow consumers to bid onthe accepted value of a prepurchase promotion including one or morepredefined promotion parameters (e.g., including a predefinedpromotional value and/or one or more items). Subsequent to merchantapproval of the consumer-defined accepted value, a (e.g.,non-prepurchase) promotion may be generated including the one or morepromotion parameters at the consumer-defined accepted value. Consumersthat have accepted the prepurchase promotion may be automaticallycharged the consumer-defined accepted value and be allowed to redeem thepromotion, such as without requiring an additional indication ofconsumer approval of the promotion and/or submission of payment data.

Method 400 may begin at 402 and proceed to 404, where the server may beconfigured to provide a prepurchase impression of a prepurchasepromotion to a consumer device. The discussion at 304 of method 300 maybe applicable at 404. In some embodiments, the prepurchase promotion maybe associated with one or more promotion parameters including apredefined promotional value and/or predefined item(s). Here, however,the accepted value may not be predefined such that consumers may beallowed to provide a consumer-defined accepted value.

At 406, the server may be configured to determine an expected revenuethreshold value. The expected revenue threshold value may indicate theminimum expected revenue value required prior to initiation of thecreation of the promotion based on the prepurchase promotion and may bean example of financial criteria used to trigger creation of thepromotion. Alternatively or additionally, the creation of the promotionmay be based at least in part on consumer demand criteria, such as aprepurchase count threshold indicating a number of consumers that haveprovided a bid above one or more predetermined bid amount thresholdsand/or predefined accepted values (e.g., as discussed above inconnection with method 300).

At 408, the server may be configured receive bid data from the consumerdevice indicating a consumer-defined accepted value and consumeracceptance of the one or more promotion parameters at theconsumer-defined accepted value. For example, the bid data may beprovided via a user interface including the prepurchase impressionprovided to the consumer device at 404. For example, the user interfacemay include the prepurchase impression including the promotional valueand a user input portion configured to receive the bid data. In someembodiments, the consumer-defined accepted value may be entered by theconsumer as a percentage saving from the promotional value (e.g., 25%off) and/or as a flat value. In some embodiments, the consumer-definedaccepted value may be allowed to exceed the promotional value, such asto allow consumers to overbid for priority of a limited supply itemand/or a high demand reservation time, etc.

In some embodiments, the server may be further configured to determinepayment data associated with the consumer and/or consumer account. Thepayment data may be received from the consumer device in connection withthe bid data and may indicate consumer approval to purchase a promotionbased on the prepurchase promotion at the consumer-defined acceptedvalue using the payment data. The discussion at 314 of method 300 may beapplicable at 408.

At 410, the server may be configured to determine a bid acceptancelikelihood value based on the consumer-defined accepted value. Forexample, the server may be configured to track historical bid dataapproval data indicating consumer-defined accepted values and bidacceptance rates for the merchant and/or for one or more other merchants(e.g., aggregated data cross merchants). The server may be furtherconfigured determine a relationship between consumer-defined acceptedvalues and bid acceptance likelihood values based on historical bidapproval data. Based on the consumer-defined accepted value received at408, the server may configured to determine a bid acceptance likelihoodvalue associated with the consumer-defined accepted value based at leastin part on the relationship between consumer-defined accepted values andbid acceptance likelihood values.

In some embodiments, subsequent to receiving the bid data from theconsumer device indicating the consumer-defined accepted value, theserver may be configured to provide an indication of the bid acceptancelikelihood value associated with the consumer-defined accepted value tothe consumer device. The consumer may then be allowed to provide anupdated consumer-defined accepted value in view of the acceptancelikelihood value.

In some embodiments, the server may be configured to provide arecommended consumer-defined accepted value. The recommendedconsumer-defined accepted value may be used to guide the consumertowards a constructive bid that is likely to be acceptable to themerchant and may be provided prior to (e.g., within the prepurchaseimpression) and/or subsequent to receiving the bid data. For example,the server may be configured to determine the recommendedconsumer-defined accepted value based at least in part on therelationship between consumer-defined accepted values and bid acceptancelikelihood values. The recommended bid acceptance value may be selected,for example, such that the consumer-defined accepted value exceeds apredefined threshold bid acceptance likelihood value (e.g., 50%, 70%,90%, etc.).

FIG. 8 shows an example bid acceptance table 800 in accordance with someembodiments. Bid acceptance table indicates the relationship betweenconsumer-defined accepted values (expressed as a percent discount fromthe promotional value), merchant quality values (e.g., indicatingmerchant type (e.g., luxury item or commodity), star rating (e.g., from2 star to 5 star), etc.), and bid acceptance likelihood values(expressed as a percent). In some embodiments, bid acceptance table 800and/or the data shown therein may be generated based on the historicalbid data approval data indicating consumer-defined accepted values andbid acceptance rates and/or stored in a database for subsequent use(e.g., database 114).

At 412, the server may be configured to determine an expected revenuevalue based on the consumer defined-acceptance value and the bidacceptance likelihood value. In some embodiments, the server may beconfigured to track and/or determine historical data associated with theprepurchase promotion indicating consumer-defined accepted values, bidcounts associated with the consumer-defined accepted values, and bidacceptance likelihood values associated with the consumer-definedaccepted values for a plurality (e.g., some or all) consumer bids. Theserver may be further configured to determine the expected revenue valuebased on at least a portion of the historical data. For example, for agiven consumer-defined accepted value, the expected revenue value may bedetermined based on a multiplication the consumer-defined accepted valuewith the associated bid acceptance likelihood value and the associatedbid acceptance likelihood value. In some embodiments, one or more (e.g.,all) expected revenue values associated with each consumer-definedaccepted value may be further conglomerated into a total expectedrevenue value for the prepurchase promotion.

At 414, the server may be configured to determine whether the expectedrevenue value exceeds the expected revenue threshold value. The expectedrevenue value and expected revenue threshold value may be used and/orcompared as a trigger for sending a request for merchant approval of apromotion based on the prepurchase promotion. As such, the expectedrevenue threshold value may be set to an amount that makes contactingthe merchant financially beneficial without being excessivelybothersome. In some embodiments, the merchant may be contacted for eachconsumer-defined bid and/or may be contacted to determine a minimumaccepted value in alternative or in addition to using expected revenuevalues as a triggering step for contacting the merchant and/orgenerating the promotion based on the prepurchase promotion.

In some embodiments, the server may be configured to determine aprepurchase threshold time indicating a predetermined time at which theexpected revenue value must exceed (and/or match) the expected revenuethreshold value in order for the promotion based on the prepurchasedpromotion to be created. The discussion at 316 of method 300 may beapplicable at 414. For example, the server may be configured todetermine whether the expected revenue value must exceed the expectedrevenue threshold value at the prepurchase threshold time.

In response to determining that the expected revenue value fails toexceed the expected revenue threshold value (e.g., prior to lapse of theprepurchase threshold time when such a threshold time is used), method400 may return to 408, where the server may continue to receive bid datafrom consumer devices.

In response to determining that the expected revenue value exceeds theexpected revenue threshold value, method 400 may proceed to 416, wherethe server may be configured to generate a request to offer a promotionincluding the one or more promotion parameters at the consumer-definedaccepted value for transmission to a merchant. The server may be furtherconfigured to provide a request to a merchant device associated with themerchant. In some embodiments, in response to determining that theexpected revenue value exceeds the expected revenue threshold value, theserver may be alternatively or additionally configured to provide analert to a display device of the server or a second apparatus (e.g., ofan operator of system 102).

In some embodiments, the server may be configured to determine amerchant revenue share value based on (e.g., as predetermined percentageor other portion of) the expected revenue value. As discussed above, themerchant revenue share value may indicate a total amount that can bepaid to the merchant in exchange for accepting the creation of thepromotion and/or the one or more promotion parameters. For example, inresponse to determining that the expected revenue value exceeds therevenue threshold value, the server may be configured to determine themerchant revenue share value based on the expected revenue value andprovide an indication of the merchant revenue share value to themerchant device. In some embodiments, the server may be configured toprovide a plurality of consumer-defined accepted values each associatedwith a different merchant revenue share value. The merchant revenueshare values may further be determined to incentivize the merchant toprovide a larger percentage discount, such as by providing a largermerchant revenue share value for a larger discount. The server may befurther configured to generate a message to the merchant including oneor more merchant revenue share values such as: “If you are willing tooffer 10% off, we have 102 consumers who have already bought thepromotion and we'll send you a check for $500 (first merchant revenueshare value). If you are willing to offer 20% off, we have 160 consumerswho've already bought the deal and we'll send you a check for $1,600.”

At 418, the server may be configured to determine whether the merchantapproves the promotion, the consumer-defined acceptance value, and/orthe one or more promotion parameters. Some or all of the discussion at324 of method 300 may be applicable at 418. For example, the server maybe configured to receive bid approval data from a merchant deviceindicating acceptance of the one or more promotion parameters at theconsumer-defined acceptance value.

In response to determining that the merchant approved the promotion, theconsumer-defined acceptance value, and/or the one or more promotionparameters, method 400 may proceed to 420, where the server may beconfigured to determine a minimum accepted value approved by themerchant. The minimum accepted value may be different or the same as aconsumer-defined acceptance value provided to the merchant with therequest to offer the promotion. For example, the server may beconfigured to provide a bid approval request to the merchant deviceincluding the consumer-defined accepted value, or a plurality ofconsumer-defined accepted values. In response and/or subsequent toproviding the bid approval request, the server may be configured toreceive bid approval data indicating the minimum accepted value from themerchant device. In another example, the server may be configured todetermine the minimum accepted value based on data entry provided via auser input device associated with the server or other networked device(e.g., used by an operator of system 102 subsequent to contacting themerchant).

At 422, the server may be configured to generate the promotion includingthe one or more promotion parameters. The promotion may be generatedbased on the prepurchase promotion and may include the consumer-definedaccepted value and/or a minimum accepted value as a promotion parameter.The discussion at 326 of method 300 may be applicable at 422.

At 424, the server may be configured to determine whether theconsumer-defined accepted value of a consumer exceeds (and/or matches)the minimum accepted value. For example, the bid data received at 408from the consumer device may be compared with the minimum accepted valuedetermined at 420. In some embodiments, bid data definingconsumer-defined accepted values form a plurality of consumers may becompared with the minimum accepted value and each consumer may beidentified as having successfully provided a bid that exceeds or failsto exceed the minimum accepted value.

In response to determining that the consumer-defined accepted valueexceeds the minimum accepted value, method 400 may proceed to 426, wherethe server may be configured to facilitate a financial transaction forthe promotion based on the consumer-defined accepted value. For example,the financial transaction may be completed based on the consumer-definedaccepted value and using the payment data. The discussion at 328 ofmethod 300 may be applicable at 426. In some embodiments, a plurality ofconsumer may be charged the minimum accepted value or a commonconsumer-defined accepted value. In some embodiments, each consumer thathas provided bid data indicating consumer-defined accepted values thatexceed the minimum accepted value may be charged based on theirrespective consumer-defined accepted values.

In response to determining that the merchant has not approved thepromotion and/or the consumer-defined accepted value at 428 and/or inresponse to determining that the consumer-defined acceptance value of aconsumer fails to exceed the minimum accepted value, method 400 mayproceed to 424, where the server may be configured to perform a remedialaction. The discussion at 330 of method 300 may be applicable at 428,such as for when the merchant has failed to approve the promotion.

In some embodiments, such as when the consumer-defined accepted valuefails to exceed the minimum accepted value, the remedial action mayadditionally or alternatively include providing to the consumer deviceone or more of: a request for a second consumer-defined accepted valuethat is greater than the (e.g., first) consumer-defined accepted valueand/or the minimum accepted value, a request for approval of a secondprepurchase threshold time that is subsequent to the (e.g., first)prepurchase threshold time (e.g., allowing the merchant more time toaccept the consumer-defined accepted value and/or allowing for largerconsumer bids that raise the expected revenue value), and/or an optionto cancel the consumer acceptance of the one or more promotionparameters at the consumer-defined accepted value. Furtheromore, in someembodiments, the consumer may be allowed to provide prepurchasecancellation data indicating cancellation of the bid data and/orconsumer-defined accepted value as discussed above in connection withmethod 300. Method 400 may then proceed to 430 and end.

FIG. 5 shows an example of a method 500 of providing a promotion basedon a prepurchase queue in accordance with some embodiments. For example,in connection with a merchant approving a promotion and/or one or morepromotion parameters based on a prepurchase promotion as discussed abovein connection with methods 300 and/or 400, the merchant may be allowedto specify a promotion availability value that limits the number ofpromotions that may be provided to consumers (e.g., in total and/orwithin a predetermined period of time). As such, consumers may be addedto a consumer queue that indicates a priority of consumers in the eventthat more consumers have prepurchased than allowed by the promotionavailability value.

Method 500 may begin at 502 and proceed to 504, where the server may beconfigured to generate a prepurchase queue of consumers. The consumerqueue may indicate an ordered priority of consumers for facilitating afinancial transaction for a promotion based on a prepurchase promotion.For example, consumers may be added to the prepurchase queue in responseto receiving prepurchase approval data from a consumer device (e.g., at310 of method 300) and/or in response to receiving bid data from aconsumer device (e.g., at 408 of method 400). In some embodiments,methods 300 may be performed separately from method 400, and separateconsumer queues may be used. Similarly, when the server receivesprepurchase cancellation data from a consumer device, the server may beconfigured to remove the applicable consumer from the consumer queue.

In some embodiments, such as where consumers provide consumer-definedaccepted values, the prepurchase queue may alternatively or additionallybe ordered based on the consumer-defined accepted values. For example, afirst consumer providing bid data indicating a higher consumer-definedacceptance value may be placed higher within the consumer queue than asecond consumer providing bid data indicating a lower consumer-definedacceptance value.

At 506, the server may be configured to determine whether the merchantapproves a promotion and/or one or more promotion parameters based onthe prepurchase promotion. The discussion at 324 of method 300 and/or418 of method 400 may be applicable at 506.

In response to determining that the merchant approves the promotionand/or the one or more promotion parameters, method 500 may proceed to508, where the server may be configured to generate a promotion based onthe prepurchase promotion. The discussion at 326 of method 300 and/or422 of method 400 may be applicable at 508.

At 510, the server may be configured to determine a promotionavailability value indicating a number of instances of the promotionavailable to consumers. The promotion availability value may be receivedfrom a merchant device, such as in connection with receiving bidapproval data and/or promotion approval data from a merchant device.

The promotion availability value may define a one-off value where thepromotion is no longer available once each of the instances of thepromotion has been exhausted. Alternatively or additionally, thepromotion availability value may define a number of instances of thepromotion available to consumers within a predetermined period of time.For example, the promotion availability value may define an hourly,daily, weekly, monthly, yearly amount, etc. In another example,promotion availability values may vary based on time. Merchants mayspecify, for example, a greater promotion availability value duringnon-peak times of days, months of a year, etc. and/or a lower promotionavailability value during peak times, weeks, months, etc. In yet anotherexample, the merchant may specify an initial promotion availabilityvalue that is different from one or more subsequent promotionavailability values, such as for a new merchant that is particularlyinterested in attracting business.

At 512, the server may be configured to facilitate a financialtransaction for the promotion for at least a portion of consumers withinthe prepurchase queue without exceeding the promotion availabilityvalue. Each financial transaction may deplete an instance of thepromotion available to consumers defined by the promotion availabilityvalue. For example, the consumers within the consumer queue may beprocessed in the order indicated and/or in a first-in first-out basis,decrementing the promotion availability value until it has been depletedand/or until a financial transaction for the promotion has beenprocessed for each consumer within the consumer queue. The discussion at328 of method 300 and/or 426 of method 400 may be applicable at 512.

At 514, the server may be configured to determine whether one or moreinstances of the promotion remain after facilitating the financialtransaction for the at least a portion of consumers within the consumerqueue. For example, the determination may be performed subsequent tofacilitating financial transactions for the promotion for each consumerwithin the consumer queue without exceeding the promotion availabilityvalue.

In response to determining that one or more instances of the promotionremain, method 500 may proceed to 516, where the server may beconfigured to provide an impression of the promotion to consumers otherthan the at least a portion of consumers. For example, the impressionmay be provided to consumer devices associated with consumers that werenot in the consumer queue, thereby allowing other consumers to purchaseand/or otherwise the promotion.

In response to determining that one or more instances of the promotionremain, method 500 may proceed to 518, where the server may beconfigured to determine whether the consumer queue is empty. If theconsumer queue fails to be empty, meaning that at least one consumerwithin the consumer queue did not receive the promotion, method 500 mayproceed to 520, where the server may be configured to perform a remedialaction for the at least one consumer. For example, the server may beconfigured to send a message to consumer device(s) associated with theat least one consumer indicating that the promotion is unavailable andthat their payment data will not be used to facilitate a financialtransaction for the promotion. In another example, such as where thepromotion is available at a subsequent time (e.g., next week, nextmonth, etc.), the server may be configured to additionally oralternatively send a message to the consumer device giving the consumeran option to accept the promotion when it becomes available.

Returning to 306, in response to determining that the merchant failed toapprove the promotion, method 500 may proceed to 520. In that sense, thediscussion above at 330 of method 300 and 428 of method 400 may beapplicable at 520. Method 500 may then proceed to 522 and end.

FIG. 6 shows an example of a method 600 of providing a requestedpromotion in accordance with some embodiments. A “requested promotion,”as used herein, refers to a promotion that is generated in response toone or more consumer requests. In some embodiments, a requestedpromotion may be prepurchased via submission of payment data and/orapproval of payment data use. Alternatively or additionally, a requestedpromotion may not be a prepurchase promotion. For example, rather thanfacilitating a financial transaction for a promotion based on therequested promotion, consumers may be notified and/or otherwise providedwith an opportunity to purchase the promotion after it has been created.

Method 600 may begin at 602 and proceed to 604, where a server (e.g.,server 112 of system 102) may be configured to provide impressions ofavailable promotions to consumer devices. The available promotions mayinclude promotions that have been approved by one or merchants that arecurrently being offered to consumers. For example, server 112 may beconfigured to receive promotion data from merchant devices 108 vianetwork 104 that defines the one or more promotion parameters of thepromotions. The server may be further configured to generate promotionsbased on the promotion data, generate impressions of the promotions, andprovide the impressions to consumer devices 106 via network 104.

At 606, the server may be configured to receive a request for merchantinformation associated with a merchant from a consumer device. Forexample, the server may be configured to provide a merchant webpageincluding the merchant information that may be accessed by consumers viaconsumer devices. Additionally or alternatively, the merchantinformation may be provided via an impression and/or a prepurchaseimpression.

At 608, the server may be configured to determine whether the merchantis associated with an available promotion provided by the server and/orsystem 102. For example, server 112 may be configured to query apromotion database (e.g., database 114) to retrieve promotion dataindicating available promotions, a listing of available promotions, etc.The server may be further configured to determine whether the merchantis associated with an available promotion based on the retrievedpromotion data.

In response to determining that the merchant is associated with anavailable promotion, method 600 may proceed to 610, where the server maybe configured to provide an impression of one or more availablepromotions associated with the merchant to the consumer device. Forexample, the one or more available promotions may be selected based onrelevance matching to the consumer, such as by comparing promotionparameters with consumer information associated with a consumer account.In another example, the one or more available promotions may bedetermined based on consumer input, such as browsing or searchingwebpage provided by the server and/or system 102.

In response to determining that the merchant fails to be associated withan available promotion, method 600 may proceed to 612, where the servermay be configured to determine a promotion request threshold value. Thepromotion request threshold value may define a number of consumerrequests that are needed before further steps towards creation of apromotion are taken.

At 614, the server may be configured to initiate a promotion requestcount. The promotion request count may indicate the number of consumersthat have requested a promotion with a particular merchant. In thatsense, the promotion request count may be initiated at 0 and incremented(or decremented) based on data (e.g., promotion request data) receivedfrom consumer devices indicating the appropriate consumer intent.

At 616, the server may be configured to provide a user interface capableof receiving promotion request data to the consumer device. For example,the user interface may be configured to allow the consumer to generatethe promotion request data, such as by selecting a request promotionbutton (e.g., a 1-click interaction).

At 618, the server may be configured to determine whether promotionrequest data indicating that a consumer is interested in purchasing apromotion associated with the merchant has been received from themerchant device. In some embodiments, the promotion request data mayindicate one or more consumer-defined promotion parameters and/or aselection of one or more predefined promotion parameters (and/or one ormore bundles of promotion parameters).

In response to determining that the promotion request data has failed tobe received from the consumer device, method 600 may return to 614,where the server may be configured to continue to determine thepromotion request count, such as by monitoring receipt of promotionrequest data from consumer devices.

In response to determining that the promotion request data has beenreceived from the consumer device, method 600 may proceed to 620, wherethe server may be configured to increment the promotion request count.For example, the promotion request count may be incremented for eachinstance of promotion request data received from a unique consumerand/or consumer account. In that sense, the possibility that a singleconsumer may submit multiple requests (e.g., without also agreeing toadditional instances of prepurchase with payment data) may be mitigated.In some embodiments, the server may be further configured to placeconsumers that provide promotion request data within a consumer queue.

At 622, the server may be configured to determine whether the promotionrequest count exceeds (and/or matches) the promotion request thresholdvalue. In some embodiments, the server may be configured to perform thedetermination at a promotion request threshold time, defining apredetermined time at which the promotion request count may be comparedwith the promotion request threshold value.

At 624, the server may be configured to generate a request to offer apromotion for transmission to the merchant. The request may, but doesnot necessarily, include one or more predefined and/or consumer-definedpromotion parameters that may be provided to the merchant for approval.In some embodiments, the promotion request count, promotion requestthreshold value, and/or promotion request threshold time may not beused. For example, the server may be configured to generate the requestin response to receiving the promotion request data form the consumerdevice at 618. In some embodiments, the server may be further configuredto send the request to a merchant device. Alternatively or additionally,the server may be configured to, in response to determining that theprepurchase count exceeds the prepurchase threshold value, provide analert to a display device of the server or a second apparatus.

In some embodiments, subsequent to and/or in response to the serversending the request to offer the promotion, the server may be configuredto receive request response data from the merchant device. The requestresponse data may indicate merchant approval to allow the server and/orsystem 102 to provide one or more promotions associated with themerchant. In some embodiments, the server may be further configured toreceive promotion data from the merchant device indicating one or morepromotion parameters of the promotions. In some embodiments, the servermay be further configured to determine a promotion availability count,such as based on the request response data and/or promotion datareceived from the merchant device.

At 624, the server may be configured to generate the promotion. In someembodiments, the server may be configured to determine (e.g., based onrequest response data and/or promotion data) whether a promotionsincluding one or more promotion parameters has been approved by themerchant. In response to determining that the promotion has beenapproved, the server may be configured to generate the promotionincluding the one or more promotion parameters.

At 626, the server may be configured to generate and/or send animpression of the promotion to consumers. For example, server 112 may beconfigured to send the impression to consumer devices 106 via network104. In some embodiments, each consumer that has provided promotionrequest data may be placed in a consumer queue (e.g., based on timing ofrequest) and/or a consumer listing (e.g., without an order). The servermay be further configured to provide the impression to consumer devicesassociated with one or more consumers within the consumer queue and/orconsumer list. In some embodiments, the server may be further configuredto provide the impression to consumers other than those that haveprovided promotion request data. In some embodiments, such as when thepromotion is associated with a promotion availability count and/or isother limited in supply, consumers within the consumer queue and/orconsumer list may be provided the impression prior to the impressionbeing provided to other consumers that have not provided promotionrequest data.

In some embodiments, the server may be further configured to associatethe merchant with one or more consumers that provided the promotionrequest data. For example, the association may indicate that theconsumer is interested in the merchant and/or a particular type of item.The server may be further configured to provide the consumer withsubsequent promotions of the merchant and/or promotions of other (e.g.,similar) merchants. Method 600 may then proceed to 628 and end.

FIG. 7 shows an example of a method 700 of determining promotionparameters of a prepurchase promotion. Method 700 may be performed, forexample, prior to and/or in connection with methods 300 and 400 togenerate a prepurchase promotion including the one or more parametersthat define the prepurchase promotion.

Method 700 may begin at 702 and proceed to 704, where the server may beconfigured to determine merchant information. The merchant informationmay be received from a merchant device associated with the merchant. Inanother example, the merchant information may be entered by an operatorof the server and/or system, such as via a user input device. Themerchant information may additionally or alternatively be determinedbased on online merchant information provided by the merchant. In yetanother example, the merchant information may be determined based oninformation provided by consumers and/or consumer device and/or thirdparty systems (e.g., merchant quality ratings, reviews, etc.).

The merchant information may include any suitable information fordetermining one or more parameters of a prepurchase promotion and/orpromotion associated with the merchant. For example, the merchantinformation may include location, merchant category (e.g., the industryor business of the merchant such as restaurant, spa, retail shop, etc.),promotion category (e.g., the type items provided by the merchant), menuitems, item prices, services offered, etc. In some embodiments, themerchant information may further include a merchant quality. Forexample, merchant quality may be based on consumer reviews, reputationin the industry, brand name recognition, among other things.

At 708, the server may be configured to determine whether merchant itemdata is available. Merchant item data may indicate the products,experiences, and/or services offered by the merchant. In someembodiments, a prepurchase promotion may be associated with and/or befor a particular item when such information is available.

In response to determining that merchant item data is available, method700 may proceed to 710, where the server may be configured to determinean item for a prepurchase promotion. For example, an item may includeone or more menu items offered by a restaurant merchant. In anotherexample, for a retail merchant, an item may include a particularproduct, brand, and/or category of product (e.g., all shoes). In anotherexample, such as for a service merchant like a spa, the item may includea particular package offered by the merchant, such as a 30 minutemessage. Advantageously, determining a particular item for a prepurchasepromotion may allow the merchant to promote a particular item, todiscount a particular item for clearing inventory, and/or to allow themerchant to plan and/or forecast future demand.

At 712, the server may be configured to determine a promotion value forthe item. In some embodiments, the promotional value may be based onprice data indicating the price of one or more items determined at 710.The promotional value may include the full cost of the one or moreitems, may exceed the cost of the one or more items, or may be a portionof the cost of the one or more items.

At 714, the server may be configured to determine an accepted value asat least a portion of the promotional value. As discussed above, theaccepted value may define the value that is provided by the consumer toreceive the benefit of the promotional value. In that sense, an acceptedvalue may be determined as a 10%, 25%, 50%, etc. discount from thepromotional value.

In some embodiments, the accepted value and/or % discount from thepromotional value may be based on merchant quality. For example, higherrated, quality and/or in demand merchants may be less willing or maybenefit less from a higher discount. As such, the server may beconfigured to determine a lower discount (e.g., 10%-25%) for a higherquality merchant and a higher discount (e.g., 25%-50%) for a lowerquality merchant. In some embodiments, historical merchant approvaldata, promotion data, etc. associated with a merchant (and/or a similarmerchant with regards to merchant category, item category, quality,etc.) may be used as a basis for determining the accepted value and/or %discount. In some embodiments, such as for high demand merchants, theaccepted value may exceed the promotional value. In some embodiments,the techniques discussed herein regarding determining a recommendedconsumer-defined accepted value at 410 of method 400 may also be used todetermine the accepted value. For example, the server may be configuredto determine historical data indicating accepted values and bidacceptance likelihood values associated with the accepted values, anddetermine the accepted value based on at least a portion of thehistorical data.

Returning to 708, in response to determining that merchant item data isunavailable, method 700 may proceed to 716, where the server may beconfigured to determine a promotional value without consideration of aparticular item and/or item price. For example, the promotional valuemay be determined as a general coupon amount that may be used at themerchant for any item offered by the merchant. In some embodiments, thepromotional value may be determined based on a general price range ofthe merchant. For example, a restaurant merchant may be associated witha lower promotional value than an automobile merchant because of thegeneral disparity in item prices.

At 718, the server may be configured to determine an accepted value asat least a portion of the promotional value. The discussion at 714 maybe applicable at 718.

At 720, the server may be configured to generate a prepurchase promotionbased on the one or more determined promotion parameters. In someembodiments, generating the prepurchase promotion may include storingthe prepurchase promotion and related data within a promotion database.

In some embodiments, the server may be further configured to determine amerchant revenue share value. For example, the merchant revenue sharevalue may be determined first by deducting a flat amount that may be aservice fee for providing the promotion and marketing service (e.g.,$5). The remaining portion of the accepted value may then be determinedas the merchant revenue share value.

At 722, the server may be configured to generate a second prepurchsepromotion including at least one different promotion parameter than the(e.g., first) prepurchase promotion generated at 720. In someembodiments, the server may be configured to generate a plurality ofdifferent prepurchase promotions to offer consumers and/or merchantsgreater flexibility in the types of promotion parameters that areacceptable to each.

The plurality of prepurchase purchase parameters may each include adifferent item, promotional value, and/or accepted value. For example,two prepurchase promotions may include a different promotional value ordiscount, such as a first prepurchase promotion including a $5 acceptedvalue for a $7.50 promotional value (e.g., 25% off) and a secondprepurchase promotion including a $5 accepted value for a $10promotional value (e.g., 50% off). In another example, two prepurchasepromotions may include a different accepted value or discount, such as afirst prepurchase promotion including a $10 accepted value for a $15.00promotional value (e.g., 33% off) and a second prepurchase promotionincluding a $5 accepted value for a $15 promotional value (e.g., 66%off). In another example, two or more prepurchase promotions mayadditionally or alternatively include different item(s).

At 726, the server may be configured to generate a prepurchaseimpression including the prepurchase promotion and the secondprepurchase promotion. The discussions at 304 and 404 of methods 300 and400 may be applicable at 726. The prepurchase promotion and the secondprepurchase promotion may include at least one different promotionparameter.

Some embodiments may provide for a user interface for generating aprepurchase promotion and/or determining the one or more promotionparameters (or “promotion options”) and/or for determining the promotionparameters based on historical data of what is acceptable to merchants.Additional details regarding promotion options for promotions,applicable in some embodiments to the prepurchase promotions and/orpromotion parameters discussed herein, are discussed in U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 14/038,641, titled “Automated Deal Guide UserInterface,” filed Sep. 26, 2013, which is hereby incorporated byreference in its entirety and for all purposes. Method 700 may thenproceed to 728 and end.

Many modifications and other embodiments will come to mind to oneskilled in the art to which the embodiments discussed herein pertainhaving the benefit of the teachings presented in the foregoingdescriptions and the associated drawings. Therefore, it is to beunderstood that the embodiments contemplated herein are not to belimited to the specific embodiments disclosed and that modifications andother embodiments are intended to be included within the scope of theappended claims. Although specific terms are employed herein, they areused in a generic and descriptive sense only and not for purposes oflimitation.

1.-28. (canceled)
 29. An apparatus comprising a processor and anon-transitory memory storing program instructions, wherein thenon-transitory memory and the program instructions are configured to,with the processor, cause the apparatus to at least: receive, via theprocessor, a merchant information request associated with a merchantdevice; determine, via the processor, that the merchant device is notassociated with at least one available promotion; in response todetermining that the merchant device is not associated with the at leastone available promotion, determine, via the processor, a promotionrequest threshold value indicating a required number of promotionrequests for generating a promotion associated with the merchant device;receive a plurality of promotion requests from a plurality of consumerdevices via the network; in response to receiving the plurality ofpromotion requests, calculate, via the processor, a promotion requestcount associated with the plurality of promotion requests; determine,via the processor, whether the promotion request count satisfies thepromotion request threshold value; in response to determining that thepromotion request count satisfies the promotion request threshold value,generate a promotion offer request indicating a request to generate thepromotion; and transmit, via the network, the promotion offer request tothe merchant device.
 30. The apparatus of claim 29, wherein, prior toreceiving the plurality of promotion requests, the non-transitory memoryand the program instructions are configured to, with the processor,cause the apparatus to further: generate, via the processor, a userinterface configured to facilitate creation of promotion requests; andtransmit the user interface to the plurality of consumer devices via thenetwork, each of the plurality of consumer devices being associated withat least one consumer.
 31. The apparatus of claim 30, wherein,subsequent to receiving the plurality of promotion requests from theplurality of consumer devices via the network, the non-transitory memoryand the program instructions are configured to, with the processor,cause the apparatus to further: generate, via the processor, a consumerqueue indicating each of the plurality of consumer devices, wherein aqueue order of the consumer queue is determined based on a received timeof a corresponding promotion request.
 32. The apparatus of claim 31,wherein the promotion offer request further comprises an input requestfor a promotion availability value associated with a number of promotionavailability instances to the at least one consumer.
 33. The apparatusof claim 32, wherein the non-transitory memory and the programinstructions are configured to, with the processor, cause the apparatusto further: transmit, via the network, the promotion offer request tothe merchant device; receive, via the network, promotion input data fromthe merchant device indicating the promotion availability value inresponse to the input request; and generate, via the processor, thepromotion based on the promotion input data.
 34. The apparatus of claim33, wherein, subsequent to generating the promotion based on thepromotion input data, the non-transitory memory and the programinstructions are configured to, with the processor, cause the apparatusto further: transmit, via the network, impressions of the promotion tothe plurality of consumer devices in the consumer queue based on thequeue order; subsequent to transmitting the impressions, facilitatetransactions of the promotion to the plurality of consumer deviceswithout exceeding the promotion availability value, each transactiondepleting a promotion availability instance to one of the at least oneconsumer; determine whether one or more promotion availability instancesremain after facilitating the transactions of the promotion to theplurality of consumer devices; and in response to determining that theone or more promotion availability instances remain, provide theimpressions of the promotion to consumer devices associated withconsumers other than the at least one consumer.
 35. The apparatus ofclaim 29, wherein the non-transitory memory and the program instructionsare configured to, with the processor, cause the apparatus to further,in response to determining that the promotion request count satisfiesthe promotion request threshold value, provide an alert to a displaydevice of the apparatus or a second apparatus.
 36. Acomputer-implemented method, comprising: receiving, via a processor, amerchant information request associated with a merchant device;determining, via the processor, that the merchant device is notassociated with at least one available promotion; in response todetermining that the merchant device is not associated with the at leastone available promotion, determining, via the processor, a promotionrequest threshold value indicating a required number of promotionrequests for generating a promotion associated with the merchant device;receiving a plurality of promotion requests from a plurality of consumerdevices via a network; in response to receiving the plurality ofpromotion requests, calculating, via the processor, a promotion requestcount associated with the plurality of promotion requests; determining,via the processor, whether the promotion request count satisfies thepromotion request threshold value; in response to determining that thepromotion request count satisfies the promotion request threshold value,generating a promotion offer request indicating a request to generatethe promotion; and transmitting, via the network, the promotion offerrequest to the merchant device.
 37. The computer-implemented method ofclaim 36, wherein, prior to receiving the plurality of promotionrequests, the computer-implemented method further comprises: generating,via the processor, a user interface configured to facilitate creation ofpromotion requests; and transmitting the user interface to the pluralityof consumer devices via the network, each of the plurality of consumerdevices being associated with at least one consumer.
 38. Thecomputer-implemented method of claim 37, wherein, subsequent toreceiving the plurality of promotion requests from the plurality ofconsumer devices via the network, the computer-implemented methodfurther comprises: generating, via the processor, a consumer queueindicating each of the plurality of consumer devices, wherein a queueorder of the consumer queue is determined based on a received time of acorresponding promotion request.
 39. The computer-implemented method ofclaim 38, wherein the promotion offer request further comprises an inputrequest for a promotion availability value associated with a number ofpromotion availability instances to the at least one consumer.
 40. Thecomputer-implemented method of claim 39, further comprising:transmitting, via the network, the promotion offer request to themerchant device; receiving, via the network, promotion input data fromthe merchant device indicating the promotion availability value inresponse to the input request; and generating, via the processor, thepromotion based on the promotion input data.
 41. Thecomputer-implemented method of claim 40, wherein, subsequent togenerating the promotion based on the promotion input data, thecomputer-implemented method further comprises: transmitting, via thenetwork, impressions of the promotion to the plurality of consumerdevices in the consumer queue based on the queue order; subsequent totransmitting the impressions, facilitating transactions of the promotionto the plurality of consumer devices without exceeding the promotionavailability value, each transaction depleting a promotion availabilityinstance to one of the at least one consumer; determining whether one ormore promotion availability instances remain after facilitating thetransactions of the promotion to the plurality of consumer devices; andin response to determining that the one or more promotion availabilityinstances remain, providing the impressions of the promotion to consumerdevices associated with consumers other than the at least one consumer.42. The computer-implemented method of claim 36, further comprising, inresponse to determining that the promotion request count satisfies thepromotion request threshold value, providing an alert to a displaydevice.
 43. A computer program product comprising at least onenon-transitory computer-readable storage medium having computer-readableprogram code portions stored therein, the computer-readable program codeportions comprising an executable portion configured to: receive, via aprocessor, a merchant information request associated with a merchantdevice; determine, via the processor, that the merchant device is notassociated with at least one available promotion; in response todetermining that the merchant device is not associated with the at leastone available promotion, determine, via the processor, a promotionrequest threshold value indicating a required number of promotionrequests for generating a promotion associated with the merchant device;receive a plurality of promotion requests from a plurality of consumerdevices via a network; in response to receiving the plurality ofpromotion requests, calculate, via the processor, a promotion requestcount associated with the plurality of promotion requests; determine,via the processor, whether the promotion request count satisfies thepromotion request threshold value; in response to determining that thepromotion request count satisfies the promotion request threshold value,generate a promotion offer request indicating a request to generate thepromotion; and transmit, via the network, the promotion offer request tothe merchant device.
 44. The computer program product of claim 43,wherein, prior to receiving the plurality of promotion requests, thecomputer-readable program code portions comprise the executable portionconfigured to: generate, via the processor, a user interface configuredto facilitate creation of promotion requests; and transmit the userinterface to the plurality of consumer devices via the network, each ofthe plurality of consumer devices being associated with at least oneconsumer.
 45. The computer program product of claim 44, wherein,subsequent to receiving the plurality of promotion requests from theplurality of consumer devices via the network, the computer-readableprogram code portions comprise the executable portion configured to:generate, via the processor, a consumer queue indicating each of theplurality of consumer devices, wherein a queue order of the consumerqueue is determined based on a received time of a correspondingpromotion request.
 46. The computer program product of claim 45, whereinthe promotion offer request further comprises an input request for apromotion availability value associated with a number of promotionavailability instances to the at least one consumer.
 47. The computerprogram product of claim 46, wherein the computer-readable program codeportions comprise the executable portion configured to: transmit, viathe network, the promotion offer request to the merchant device;receive, via the network, promotion input data from the merchant deviceindicating the promotion availability value in response to the inputrequest; and generate, via the processor, the promotion based on thepromotion input data.
 48. The computer program product of claim 47,wherein, subsequent to generating the promotion based on the promotioninput data, the computer-readable program code portions comprise theexecutable portion configured to: transmit, via the network, impressionsof the promotion to the plurality of consumer devices in the consumerqueue based on the queue order; subsequent to transmitting theimpressions, facilitate transactions of the promotion to the pluralityof consumer devices without exceeding the promotion availability value,each transaction depleting a promotion availability instance to one ofthe at least one consumer; determine whether one or more promotionavailability instances remain after facilitating the transactions of thepromotion to the plurality of consumer devices; and in response todetermining that the one or more promotion availability instancesremain, provide the impressions of the promotion to consumer devicesassociated with consumers other than the at least one consumer.